5+ Must-see exhibits at Canada Blooms

After spending just about every day last week at Canada Blooms, helping Charlie Dobbin with the plant material, attending two media events and chatting with the garden designers, you’d think I’d be all Bloomed out! Instead, I’m so impressed with this show that I just have to share my absolute favourite gardens, plants and people. So, if you’re visiting Canada Blooms this week, don’t leave the show without seeing…

1. Medinilla magnifica is the “it” plant of the show. Big, blousy pink blooms cascade from deep, dark green tropical foliage. A longtime favourite houseplant of the flower-loving Dutch, Medinilla (think “med-” and “(va)nilla”) is being introduced to Canadians at Canada Blooms. To see it (and an amazing miniature grapevine that produces clusters of grapes — honest!), visit the Ontario Growers booth G17 — or just look up to find pots and pots of them cascading from the pergola that surrounds the booth. Medinilla magnifica is available in three sizes, from $19.99

2. Sweetpea‘s three — count ‘em — three displays. The super-talented Sara Jameson won two awards for her “Perfect Corner of Toronto” garden (Garden 6B), a streetscape of Roncesvalles Avenue that cleverly incorporates street signs, TTC streetcar stops and traffic pylons surrounded by a richly textured carpet of handsome foliage plants. Around the corner, you’ll find her display of found objects, including cake stands showcasing muffin tins and cake pans rescued from Granowska’s bakery when they closed their doors last year. And in the professinal florists exhibit area, Sara has created a glasshouse terrarium banked with moss and old, discarded books and filled with everyday, backyard flowers that any good gardener would recognize.